Adjustable handle grip



Sept. 24, 1957 c. ARMSTRONG ADJUSTABLE HANDLE GRIP Filed June 18, 1956 INVETOR. BY Charles Armstrong.

ATTORNE Y.

United States This invention relates to facilities widely and diversely employable in secure removable and replaceable attachment to items and fixtures of various kinds and types to function therewith as a handheld convenient of human grip, and more particularly to a handle attachment ex-' pediently applicable to conventional bathtub installations as a hand grip of convenient availability to users of the so-equipped tub, and has as an object to provide a novel and improved construction and organization of elements constituting a handle grip attachment of high practical utility.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved handle grip unit adjustably adaptable to operative association with bathtub wall members,,or analogous elements, of differing dimensions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved handle grip unit adapted for convenient, detachable, operative association with a bathtub wall member, or analogous element, without alteration of or damage to the associated member or element.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved handle grip unit mountable in or removable from its position of use through the agency of simple, commonly-available tools.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved handle grip unit expedient of economical production in any desired size range, simple of secure attachment in position of practical use, of wide utility, and positive and eflicient in attainment of the ends for which designed throughout a long useful life.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and operative combination of elements as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure 1 is an exterior elevation of an end portion of a conventional bathtub as equipped with a typical embodiment of the invention in position of use thereon.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the organization according to Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a cross section through the tub as illustrated, taken substantially on the indicated line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a section, on a relatively enlarged scale, through the improvement of the invention separated from the mounted association represented by the preceding views and taken substantially on the indicated line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a transverse section through the improvement on the same scale as and taken substantially on the indicated line 55 of Figure 4.

The utility and practicality of handle grip units adjustably adaptable for detachable association with both fixed and movable members and elements are so apparent as to preclude occasion for elaboration. The importance of some such grip as an aid to bathtub users has long been recognized as evidenced by the provision of grips formed integrally with the tub or as accessories atent 2 adapted for attachment to wall areas adjacent the tub installation. However adequate may be the grips heretofore available for association with bathtubs, a condition apparently unsatisfied thereby is presented by a very large number of tubs lacking integral grips so installed as' to preclude practical association therewith of wall-mounted grips, which tubs are commonly characterized by smooth, imperforate upper margins terminating side walls of differing thicknesses, hence the instant invention is directed to the provision of a handle grip attachment adjustable for coaction with 'a considerable range of tub wall thicknesses and adapted for secure, detachable association with the tub in any selected disposition along the upper rim thereof without alteration of or damage to the tub structure.

As typified 'by the views of the drawing, a U-shaped frame adjustable as to Width of opening is comprised from complementary, expediently identicahninety degree angle plates 10and 11 opposedly paired in a slidably overlapped relation of corresponding web portions to register their other web portions in spaced parallelism. The angle plates 10 and 11 are formed from any suitable substantially rigid material, such as sheet metal, to a size and in a strength appropriate to meet the use requirements in contemplation, and in constructions adapted for coaction with rims of conventional bathtubs it has been found to be practical to provide said plates in a width parallel to the line of the angle bend somewhat greater than the width of an adult human hand and to form said plates with slidably coacting web portions 10 and 11', respectively, outstanding perpendicularly from relatively longer web portions 10" and 11", respectively, a distance conditioning each thereof to span transversely of and substantially across a conventional bathtub rim of minimum thickness. The overlapped web portions 10 and 11' of the angle plates are slidably interrelated for selective adjustment of the spacing between the parallel web portions 10" and 11" by means of elongated slots 12 intersecting the uppermost of said overlapped web portions, illustrated as the Web portion 10, inwardlyadjacent and parallel to the side margins thereof and bolts 13, or the equivalent, engaged with and perpendicularly through the underlying web portion 11 inwardly adjacent the free end margin thereof in extension through said slots in coaction with nuts 14 clampable against the exposed surface areas of the web portion 10 marginally of said slots. Thus, loosening of the nuts 14 permits slidable shift of the web portions 10' and 11 relative to each other for variation in the spacing between the web portions 10" and 11 within the range provided by the length of the slots 12, and tightening of said nuts serves to hold the said web portions 10 and 11' securely interclamped in a relation retentive of the adjusted spacing established between the associated web portions 10" and 11".

The U-shaped frame constituted from the angle plates 10 and 11 as above described mounts a handle or grip member parallel to and spaced outwardly from the overlapped web portions 10' and 11 in a manner supplementing the clamping action of the bolts 13 and their nuts 14. The handle or grip member includes a straight, rigid, preferably hollow element 15 sized and conformed as may be desired for coaction with the human hand in a length approximating the width dimension of the angle plates, legs 16 fixed to and similarly projecting from the opposite ends of said element 15 perpendicular to the length of the latter, and terminal flanges 17 inturned at the ends of said legs 16 to parallel and to underlie adjacent end portions of the element 15 in spaced relation therewith. The flanges 17 are adapted to seat against the exposed surface of the web portion 10' at the opposite sides of the latter when the associated legs 16 are registered with the side margins of the web portion and said wi-alikeinzalength such as to span transversely terms the adjacent slot 12 when said legs are so disposed.

I m li yrfith and perpendicularlyoutstandwe 1min 11: through said slotiandflange, iathiatnut 19- adapted to'bearonthe; surface Y i remotefrom the web portion, 10., M1: bolt! nuts-.19. function to securely -@Omblytoclement 15, legs 16, and flanges -'mIilQpOdWbp0rti0nS l0, and 11 in a mann lmlative shift of said web portions gm em-are lm'asenedr and supplementing the at, thebolts. 1a; and. nuts 14 when said. mufifle on: their bolts 18.- Asis clearly v w i 5,.310 bolts 18 engage with the web l 11 1; mnlinl'parallel to the free end-margin of Portion and approximately bisecting the latter inwardly; of theweb portion away from beta .lli

: handle grip unitfor practical use, a .vleuum cup 20 isv secured toand inwardly mam outer corner of each web portion innerface thereof, thus to provide tinftee endof eachof said web portions a pair than). opposed to and in registration across the said web portionswith the cups carried .u8aidper tions.

= of the improved handle grip to use with omibathtub isexemplified in Figures 1, 2, min-m the usual smooth n'rn upwardly terminat- IQ ie-IQ]! d the tub. is designated by the numeral 21.

and the nuts 14 and 19 loosened on their re- 1; 13 andlB, the web portions 10" and 11" In to permit engagement of the rim 21 bepairs of cups-20, the frame is then telei said rim until the web portion 11 is close l, V erxaepmtion and to secure the element to the in alignment with and spaced relation above in which disposition said element 15 functime has grip conveniently available to users of the I 'Mfllifflfly, the' unit is adaptable to tub rims of mmfithicknesses is adjustable to any desired positin: tub'rim,,is readily removable and replace Ill -(Ht susceptible of use as a carrying handle,. or f1 I m in. Usociations and environments having no We! bathtubs.

' end-.of a bolt; 718;.or equiva-.

Since changes, variations, and modifications in the particular form, construction, and arrangement of the elements shown and described may be had without departing from the spirit of my invention, I wish to be understood as being lirnited solely by the scope of the appended claims, rather than by any details of the illustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim as my invention:

1. A handle grip unit comprising complementary angle plates opposed with corresponding webs slidably overlapped to define a stifi, U-shaped frame adjustable as to width of opening between parallel rectangular plate webs, slots in the outer of said overlapped webs perpendicular to the free end thereof, fasteners slidably received through said slots and engaged with the inner of the overlapped webs manipulable to interclamp the overlapped webs in various positions of relative adjustment, vacuum cups fixed to the parallel plate webs inwardly adjacent the corners thereof remote from" the overlapped webs to instand in spaced registration therebetween, and a. handle member secured by and'sparming between corresponding fasteners exteriorly and transversely of the overlapped websclosing the end-of the frame.

2. A handle grip unit comprising complementary angle plates opposed with corresponding, webs slidably overlapped to define a stiif, U-shapedframe adjustable as. to: Width of opening between parallel rectangular plate webs, slots, in the outer of said overlapped webs prependicular: to the free end thereof, fasteners slidably received throughsaid slots and engaged. with the inner of the overlapped webs manipulable tov interclamp the overlappedwebsinv various positions of relative adjustment, vacuum cups fixed to the parallel plate webs inwardly adjacent thev corners thereof remote from the. overlapped Webs toinstand in spaced registration therebetween, a handle. element spanning. said overlapped webs perpendicular to said slots, like legs fixedly and perpendicularly outstand-' ing from ends, of said. element, coplanar, inturned flanges terminating said legs for engagement exteriorly against the outer of said overlapped webs and transversely across the slots thereof, holes in said flanges registerable with. the slots bridged thereby, and fasteners through said holes. and slots in engagement with the; inner of the overlapped webs manipulable to, secure said handle, element spacedly and exteriorly parallel to and transversely of the overlapped webs in interclamping relation therewith.

References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Anderson Mar. 24, 1936.

Bloch Aug.- 9, 1955' 

